It's all adding up in the Midlands
Maths Week takes place all over Ireland during the week of October 16 and Midlands Science has a variety of activities and resources to help people of all age groups explore maths. School workshops with the Exploration Dome will focus on exploring the key role maths plays in helping us to understand the universe and the vital role it has in space exploration.
Midlands Science are also encouraging everyone to engage with maths in the movies this maths week. From Good Will Hunting to the Oxford Murders, there’s lots of interesting maths to explore in the six engaging movies recommended for Maths Week this year. A listing of Maths Goes To The Movies is available on www.midlandsscience.ie
Midlands Science is encouraging schools all across the midlands to take part in The 10 Cent Challenge. Students are encouraged to bring 10 cent to school and lay all the coins out in a line, calculate the length, how much money it is in total and lots of other things. Tag Midlands Science on social media and be in with a chance to win some prizes and free workshops.
Midlands Science is providing workshops in maths and juggling with Mr Math Weeney to local youth groups. This brings together juggling and maths and allows participants to learn maths while having a lot of fun.
This year, there is a new and important activity for parents. Lots of people experience maths-phobia when they are in school and this can last throughout life and can be often be passed on in families. To help with this, a series of free workshops for parents are available during Maths Week with Dr Aisling Twohill of DCU in St Mary’s Youth Centre, Tullamore.
Workshops take place at different times during maths week and are focussed around the age of the participants’ children. If you have school-going children and you’re keen to help them with maths and build your confidence to do so, this workshop is for you. It’s a low pressure, fun and engaging way to build confidence in maths so your children can come to see that maths can be fun and is a key part of every day life.
Jackie Gorman, CEO of Midlands Science commented: “Maths is an important subject in school but also an important skill in every aspect of our lives, from shopping to mortgages to understanding some parts of the news, maths is everywhere. We are delighted this year to have a range of resources online and also some workshops in school and youth clubs. We are particularly glad to offer workshops for parents with Dr Aisling Twohill of DCU as we know that helping parents become more confident in maths is really important.”
Maths Week is a mathematics outreach initiative founded in 2006 by Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan. It is a project of the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST) the STEM outreach centre at the South East Technological University.
Details of the resources and the activities mentioned above including booking for the parents workshops and number of fun maths puzzles to engage with can be found on www.midlandsscience.ie